Giuly believes Hazard or Mbappe could be Ronaldo’s replacement

Ex-Barcelona player and France international Ludovic Giuly gave his thoughts on potential replacements for Cristiano Ronaldo.

“You lose your coach who won three Champions Leagues in a row. You lose your best and most important player. There are cycles in life. It is sometimes difficult to replace.”

“Madrid doesn’t have that player today. They did not replace him. This new player could have been Hazard or Mbappe. And you can feel it now.”

You know it’s a slow news day when ex-players that have no direct connection to the club are giving their opinions on potential transfers. He’s basically just repeating what outlets around football have been rumoring recently, regarding Hazard and Mbappe.

He is right in saying Real Madrid need a player of Mbappe or Hazard’s caliber. This is something that needs to be brought up closer to next summer, when a transfer of this nature would be more likely, these moves wouldn’t happen in January.

UEFA reveal Real Madrid’s earnings from Champions League win

UEFA has revealed that Real Madrid about €89 million for their campaign in the Champions League this past season. Real received €15.5 million from their win over Liverpool in the Champions League Final alone.

Also released by UEFA was the total amount they paid to participating Champions League and Europa League clubs. To Champions League clubs, UEFA paid just over €1.4 billion. They paid €428 million to Europa League clubs.

Every club that reached the group stage of the Champions League last season were given a minimum amount just over €12 million.

Not only does it pay to win the Champions League in terms of trophies, it definitely pays those who end up making it to the Final and winning it all.

Valverde speaks on Real Madrid before Sunday’s Clásico

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has given his expectations on what he will see from the opposing Real Madrid side. He was asked in a post-match interview after facing Inter Milan on Wednesday.

“Madrid can be even more dangerous.”

“They will come out here to face us and although they come in crisis will want to demonstrate their strength, which they have because they have great players.”

“We must forget about today; I do not trust these situations.”

Well, at least Valverde seems to believe in Real Madrid on Sunday. This will be a tough match for Real. They must travel to the Camp Nou in the midst of going through a bad period of play. With the win over Plzen, they are looking to turn things around, which can happen if they manage to beat Barcelona on the road.

Barcelona are likely without Messi for Sunday, while that helps Barcelona are still a dangerous team with players like Coutinho and Suarez. With Barca being the league leaders currently, it would certainly start to give Real great optimism going forward.

A win is the perfect outcome, a draw is ideal to say the least, a loss just continues to bury Real further and lets Barcelona start taking command of LaLiga. Real Madrid must play their best football on Sunday, absolutely the best of the season so far.